1. Field
The disclosed methods and apparatus relate generally to the field of mobile or wireless communications, and more specifically to methods and apparatus for combining advertising messages with short message service (SMS) messages routed to mobile communications devices.
2. Related Art
Since their introduction in the 1980s, wireless networks have evolved from first generation networks, which supported voice communications and only limited data communications, to second generation networks such as GSM and CDMA, which include data communications capabilities, through to third generation networks, which support much higher data bandwidth as required for the distribution of music and video, among other forms of content. Second generation networks introduced Short Message Service (SMS) messaging, which provides for messages to be exchanged between users. SMS messaging was originally provided as a limited form of text messaging. SMS messaging provides a low per-message bandwidth transport, with low bandwidth requirements, and as such is attractive to network operators.
SMS messaging enables mobile subscribers to easily and efficiently transmit and receive text and other media type messages using a wireless device such as a cell phone or other wireless apparatus. This feature of wireless communication systems has grown rapidly during the past few years. Although standards and specifications relating to SMS communication continue to evolve, the most common usage of SMS communication is for the transmission of short text messages between wireless phone users. In this context, an SMS text message is composed using an origination cell phone, transmitted from the origination cell phone to a wireless base station, and subsequently passed through one or more routing nodes before being transmitted to a destination cell phone.
Standards for communication of SMS messages have been developed and continue to evolve, with various standards being applicable to different network components. Standards defining methods of communication between cell phones and base stations prescribe the message formats and communications methods for transmission over radio frequency communications channels. Similarly, communication of SMS messages between base stations and routing nodes, and between routing nodes, are defined in standards for their respective interfaces.
For example, and as described in more detail below, in current implementations, SMS messages are typically transported within the wireless communications network using signaling network elements, rather than through bearer channels. The signaling protocols are subject to standardization, and technical details vary depending on which standards body is responsible. In North American and international wireless networks, “signaling System No. 7” (SS7) signaling protocols and network elements are used to effect the routing of SMS messages. The SS7 signaling protocol is a Telecommunication Industry Standard signaling protocol for use in wireless communication systems. SMS service uses the SS7 mobile application part (MAP), which defines signaling methods for use in wireless networks. The MAP protocol uses the Transaction Capabilities Application Part (TCAP) component of the SS7 protocol. Both international and North American standards bodies have defined a MAP layer using the SS7 TCAP component. The international standard is defined by the European Telecommunication Standards Institute and is referred to as “GSM MAP”. The North American standard is published by the Telecommunication Industry Association (TIA) and is referred to as “IS-41 MAP”. Both of these standards are incorporated by reference herein as if set forth in full for their teachings on signaling communication methods and protocols.
Many implementations of wireless networks combine multiple functions where possible, and so, for example, the “base station” and “routing node” functions may be combined into a single component. In such cases, the implementation may not adhere to the industry standards, although the functionality is substantially the same.
As wireless technology communication systems and related technologies have evolved, SMS messaging has also evolved in order to provide enhanced and richer content. SMS messages are now being generated using a variety of media-rich sources to provide an enhanced and broader range of communication. As the wireless network and related technologies have evolved, the SMS messaging standards have expanded to incorporate the multimedia formats and enhanced functionality. Mobile communications devices have evolved to include more than wireless phone capability, including a broader range of Internet and e-mail capabilities, together with sophisticated display technology, built-in cameras, and other features and functions.
SMS messages may be generated from a variety of sources. For example, an e-mail message may be generated using a wireline computer terminal residing within a data network (e.g., the Internet) and transmitted to a mobile terminal within a wireless network as an SMS message. SMS messages may also be automatically generated by monitoring systems. For example, security systems may generate SMS messages to notify a user of an alarm. Monitoring of news feeds or traffic reports is often used to automatically generate SMS messages. Multiplayer SMS games have also been developed wherein the SMS messages are automatically generated, for example, as a reaction to other players' actions.
Whether SMS messages are generated by users via a cell phone, through e-mail using a computer, or automatically by monitoring or similar systems, all SMS messages transmitted to a given destination user eventually pass through a common network routing node. Often, the capabilities of the wireless devices and the communications channels offer more flexibility, bandwidth, and performance than what is necessary to deliver and display the SMS messages. This surplus in device and network capabilities has heretofore not been thoroughly exploited to allow for transmission of additional message content, such as advertising and other messaging information.
SMS Message Formats, Enhanced Messaging Services (EMS) and Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS)
SMS messaging was originally designed specifically for the transfer of text messages, and the text messages were originally limited to a maximum of 160 characters. Various other features were designed into the original specifications to optionally provide notification to the originating user regarding the success or failure of delivery of the SMS messages, and regarding limitations on the length of time that the wireless network would hold a message for delivery.
SMS message coding for text has been enhanced, and now includes text coded in 7 bit GSM alphabet, 8-bit binary data, or Universal Character Set UCS2 16-bit coding which provides for non-Latin character sets. Because of the different lengths of characters in these formats, the maximum size of a message varies depending on the coding used. If coded in the GSM alphabet, the maximum message size is 160 characters, if coded in an 8-bit data format, the maximum size is 140 bytes, and if encoded using a Universal Character Set USC2 coding, the maximum size is 70 characters.
Two extensions to SMS provide for the exchange of rich-media messages that include text, pictures, melodies, and animation. These are basic and extended Enhanced Messaging Services (EMS). Basic EMS defines a format for inclusion of formatted text, black and white bitmap images, black and white bitmap animations, and monophonic melodies in messages. Basic EMS also allows included elements to be processed by the mobile phone as downloaded objects, so that ringtones and images can be saved by the phone separate from the EMS message itself. Basic EMS allows concatenation of messages to support the exchange of melodies and images greater than 140 bytes.
Extended EMS increases the flexibility of coding so that larger size messages can be transmitted, typically up to 8 fragments or a total of 1,000 bytes. Coding formats are expanded in extended EMS to include color text, grayscale and color pictures and animations, polyphonic MIDI melodies, and data compression. All SMS and EMS systems rely on the same underlying SMS transport architecture described below in more detail.
Further expansion of the scope of messaging includes the specifications for Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS) that have been defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) standards committees. One objective of these standards is to incorporate internet-compatible formats into mobile messaging, and facilitate the processing of very large sized messages by delivery of the message content using a high capacity packet data network. For the sake of simplicity, the present message processing methods and apparatus are largely described in the context of SMS messaging. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the wireless communications arts that the present methods and apparatus can be used to process MMS messages as well. In this case, all references to SMS messaging should be replaced with their MMS messaging counterparts.
Advertisement Content in SMS Messaging
Mobile communications devices, including cell phones, are increasingly being used to facilitate the purchase of goods and services, including music, “ringtones”, games, and videos, among others. The vendors of such goods and services are interested in presenting advertisements to the cell phone users. Many users would likely consider it intrusive to receive advertising messages as separate messages, but would likely not consider it intrusive if the advertising messages were delivered as an attachment or extension to SMS messages.
Mobile devices are also being used to affect the purchase of goods and services that are delivered outside the domain of the communications system. For example, cell phones can be used to purchase tickets for use in public transportation systems. As another example, users can purchase movie tickets using their mobile devices. Historical information pertaining to such purchases provides information that is valuable to vendors when targeting advertisements to potential customers. In the purchase examples cited above, for example, the name of the ringtone or movie purchased by the user can be used by a vendor to determine the user's musical preferences and demographic group. Similarly, the location of a transit ticket can be used by a vendor to identify retail outlets in the vicinity of the user. Additionally, analysis of the content of SMS messages may assist in targeting advertisements to prospective customers.
The prior art systems and methods for combining advertisements with SMS messages have been limited and fail to take full advantage of the device and network capabilities, historical information related to user purchases, or information pertaining to particular device characteristics. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,381,465 to Chern, et al., issuing Apr. 30, 2002 (hereafter, “the '465 patent”), describes a monitoring and alert system including a wireless device that sends a monitoring request to a remote server. The '465 patent is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for its teachings on SMS messaging and related methods and apparatus. In accordance with the incorporated '465 patent, when certain conditions are met, the server generates an SMS alert message. The server determines the maximum length in characters of the SMS message, and whether there is sufficient available space for an advertisement. If sufficient space remains, the advertisement is combined with the SMS message.
Disadvantageously, the '465 patent describes techniques whereby advertisement messages are combined with SMS messages based only upon the maximum character length of the SMS message. Information related to the destination user's historical purchases and other demographic information are not taken into account in the '465 advertisement inclusion determination. Nor does the '465 method consider information related to the destination mobile communications device when making this determination. Therefore, disadvantageously, the advertisement message is necessarily size limited in the '465 system. The '465 system is forced to use the most basic form of SMS messaging, i.e., single-fragment SMS messaging. Also, in the '465 system, disadvantageously, advertisement messages are appended to the SMS messages at the point of creation of the SMS messages, and not at the point of delivery, where information related to the destination user's device and purchasing interests is more readily available.
Therefore, methods and apparatus are needed that facilitate delivery of advertising messages and other content in combination with the transmission and reception of SMS messages. The advertising messages should be combined with SMS messages based upon, inter alia, information pertaining to characteristics of the destination mobile device in order to determine the best method for attaching the advertising messages. Other information should be considered in selecting the advertising message to be combined with the SMS message, including, but not limited to: information pertaining to the destination user's purchasing habits and demographic group; the content and format of the SMS message; the content and format of the advertising messages; cost metrics related to the cost of combining a selected advertising message with the SMS message and transmitting the combined message to the destination user; and limitations of the communications channel used to deliver the modified message to the mobile communications device.
The present teachings solve the aforementioned problems by providing highly reliable, cost-effective and efficient methods and systems for delivery of advertising content in short message service (SMS) messages.